PROTESTERS campaigning against proposals to build homes next to a nature reserve say they will fight until the council backs down.

Newcastle City Council has identified land off Salters Lane, next to the 150-acre Gosforth Park reserve, as a potential site for the houses.

The local authority stresses the plans are still at the consultation stage and no firm decision has been made on the site.

But, as The Journal reported yesterday, more than 900 letters of objection have been sent to the council and around 300 furious people crammed into a public meeting to voice their anger.

One of the heads of the campaign against the development is James Littlewood, director of the Natural History Society of Northumbria.

He said: “Gosforth Nature Reserve is nationally important for its flora and fauna. It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Newcastle’s most important wildlife area.

“It is unique in the city and cannot be replaced. Indeed, there are few such important wildlife sites in the UK’s major cities.

“We do understand that there could be a need to build some new homes on greenfield sites, but these should be located in places that do not have a damaging impact on important wildlife sites. From an environmental perspective, it is hard to find a worse place to build houses than the site the council has chosen.

“While the proposed housing would not be built on the reserve itself, this site is just 50 metres away and it would have a devastating impact.”

He added: “Local people are rightly proud that they have such a fantastic wildlife site close to their homes.

“People are outraged that the council could even consider damaging such an important and well-loved place.

“We will fight these plans until they are withdrawn. I don’t want to see people standing in front of bulldozers, but I am sure that would happen if it came to it.”